W

hile Singapore Sun Festival 2009 ended just a week ago, great impressions and comments from concerts they held this year are still far from ending.

In its classical music section, the festival had a stellar cast with international reputations, such as Angela Gheorghiu, Sir James Galway, Conrad Tao, Marius Manea, The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and many more.

This was such a fresh improvement from last year, when they surprised us by bringing Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica Von Stade into the picture.

The first classical evening began with Sir James Galway performing with The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Although flute might not be the kind of solo instrument we are typically exposed to, under the magic fingers of Sir James Galway this instrument sounded fantastic. Sir Galway, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, is also one of the top world classical musicians of our time. He performed the infamous Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 2 in D, which was quite charming.

The intensity built up on the second day, when The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Jaap Van Zweden, again revealed their great talents.

There was some variety - ranging from symphonies such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 in D major (op.36) and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor (Op. 36), to literature music like Romeo and Juliet by Prokoviev - performed these two nights, with such perfection and bravado.

Still on the second day, the festival introduces another two international musicians; Russian cellist Nina Kotova and child-prodigy pianist Conrad Tao.

Nina Kotova is quite an interesting subject to see on her own. She is the daughter of legendary virtuoso double bassist Ivan Kotov, who chose cello as her instrument and became a model during time at Yale when she ran out of money.

Although she never liked modeling much, her body language on stage was poised fantastically while playing Theofanidis's Cello Concerto - composed especially for her.

However, the highlight of the second day classical evening was a 14-years-old pianist from Illinois, Conrad Tao. The American-born Chinese Conrad is an amazing pianist, who possesses great technique and a deep understanding of the music he plays. Conrad was just 18 months old when he was first seen playing the piano, and has been unstoppable since.

Conrad gave his first public pi-ano recital at the tender age of four, and made his concert debut four years later. Conrad now is in his sixth year at the Julliard School in New York.

Performing right after Nina, Conrad managed to flaunt his own persona and impressed everyone in the Esplanade by performing Rachmaninov's Rhapshody on a Theme of Paganini (Op.43).

Conrad's style combined with the energy with which he played the piano, creating a spectacular and breathtaking performance. We can safely say Conrad stole the spotlight.

For the opera gala finale to the classical music in this year's festival, IMG Artists (the event organizer) decided to host the controversial diva soprano Angela Gheorghiu. This Romanian superstar became an overnight sensation when she portrayed the role of Violetta from Verdi's famous La Traviata, in 1994 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the UK. Known as a singer who can sing with the power of a hurricane, Angela's voice is so remarkable that brought Sir Georg Solti to tears.

Chosen as the star of the opera gala this year, Angela was accompanied by fellow Romanian tenor Marius Manea, as well as The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Italian conductor Paolo Olmi.

Though we knew little about tenor Marius Manea, he blew us away with his solos and duets with Angela. In particular, during his aria "Quando Le Sere Al Placido" from Verdi's Luisa Miller, Marius showed us his great vocal technique as well as his range in singing.

For a Romanian singer, he has an Italian sound, and uses the technique similar to the late Pavarotti and Domingo.

Angela herself gave a remarkable stage performance as Cio-Cio-San singing Puccini's timeless "Un Bel Di Vedremo" from Madame Butterfly that was truly moving and heartfelt. The opera gala was supposed to end with another of Puccini's lovely duets; "O Suave Fanciulla" from La Boheme, but the standing ovation was nonstop and demanded more. And, guess what: The encore came not only one or twice, but five times! It was almost like a third session instead of an encore.

The Singapore Sun Festival 2009 opera gala finally ended with its last encore that followed the tradition of great opera highlight concerts by performing "Libiamo", an aria from Verdi's La Traviata, also known as "The Champagne Song".